Chemical bag feeder

ABSTRACT

A medicine envelope feeder capable of feeding sufficient quantity of medicine envelopes while preventing injection from leaking out of the medicine envelopes even if the shape of a bucket is of general type, wherein one face of the medicine envelope  3  storing injection is supported by a support member  5  excluding a tolerance for bending starting from an upper end opening part, the other face of the medicine envelope  3  is guided by the guide part  26  of a vertically movable holding member  6  at least in a specified range exceeding the tolerance for bending starting form the upper end opening part, and the medicine envelope  3  is folded along the support member  5  and pressed by lowering a vertically movable pressing part  27  along the guide part  26,  whereby, since the coefficient of friction of the pressing part  27  is made larger than that of the support member  5,  only the medicine envelope  3  can be raised while being held between the guide part  26  and the pressing part  27  when the holding member  6  is raised.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a medicine envelope feeder.

BACKGROUND ART

As a conventional device for feeding medicine envelopes storinginjection such as injection in ampules to a bucket, there has beendisclosed, for example in Japanese unexamined patent application No.H11-152113, a device structured such that medicine envelopes storinginjection can be fed to each storage chamber formed in a bucket via abelt conveyer that is provided in a rotatable manner.

However, in the conventional structure, each storage chamber in thebucket needs to be formed such that the medicine envelopes could beaccommodated upright and easily in each storage chamber so as to preventthe injection stored in the medicine envelopes from being leaked. Thissignificantly suppresses quantity of medicine envelopes which can beaccommodated, and necessitates provision of a bucket whose shape is ofspecific type. Moreover, without the use of such bucket with the shapeof specific type, it is impossible to prevent injection from leaking outof the medicine envelopes.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a medicineenvelope feeder capable of feeding sufficient quantity of medicineenvelopes while preventing injection from leaking out of the medicineenvelopes even if the shape of a bucket is of general type.

According to the present invention, as a means to solve theaforementioned problem, there is provided a medicine envelope feedercomprising:

-   -   a support member for supporting one face of a medicine envelope        storing injection excluding a tolerance for bending starting        from an upper end opening part;    -   a vertically movable holding member composed of a guide part for        guiding the other face of the medicine envelope at least in a        specified range exceeding the tolerance for bending starting        from the upper end opening part, and a pressing part which is        vertically movable along the guide part and is lowered for        folding and pressing the medicine envelope along the support        member, wherein    -   at least a coefficient of friction of the pressing part is made        larger than that of the support member so that only the medicine        envelope can be raised while being held between the guide part        and the pressing part when the holding member is raised.

With this constitution, the medicine envelope can be positioned betweenthe guide member and the guide part of the holding member, and thetolerance for bending of the medicine envelope can be bent and pressedby the pressing part. When the holding member is raised, the supportmember is dropped off due to the difference in a coefficient offriction, by which the medicine envelope is fed while being held betweenthe guide part and the pressing part.

A part of the support member held between the guide part and thepressing part of the holding member should preferably be composed of arotating piece rotatable about one end part.

According to this constitution, the rotating piece gradually rotates asthe holding member is raised, so that the friction force of the supportmember exerted on the medicine envelope is gradually reduced. Thisenables the holding member to hold and feed the medicine envelopessmoothly.

In the medicine envelope feeder, it is preferable that the supportmember is provided in a rotatable manner around a lower end part andcomprises medicine envelope detection means for detecting that themedicine envelope is fed, driving means for rotary-driving the supportmember by the medicine envelope detection mean detecting the medicineenvelope, and rotating position detecting means for detecting that thesupport member is rotated in a state that the medicine envelope is heldbetween the support member and the guide part of the holding member, sothat the medicine envelopes storing injection can be automatically andsmoothly moved to a feeding operation by the holding member.

The holding member should preferably be capable of moving in horizontaldirection, and comprise a rotatable contact piece which is brought intocontact with one surface of the medicine envelope as the holding membermoves in horizontal direction when the held medicine envelope is fed tothe bucket, so that a folded part of the medicine envelope can bepositioned between the medicine envelope which have already been fedinto the bucket and the holding member, thereby ensuring prevention ofinjection from leaking.

The holding member should preferably comprise an inclined face which isprovided on a lower end part of the guide part and is gradually inclinedfrom the pressing part toward a lower side, so that by moving thepressing part along the inclined face of the guide part, the heldmedicine envelope can be inclined with a folded side facing down,allowing the medicine envelopes to be securely positioned sideways andhoused horizontally in the bucket.

The holding member should preferably further comprise an elasticpressing piece for pressing an upper folded side of the medicineenvelope after retaining the medicine envelope on a bottom surface ofthe bucket by the contact piece, which makes it possible to ensureprevention of the folded part of the medicine envelope in the bucketfrom opening.

According to the present invention, as a means to solve theaforementioned problem, there is provided a medicine envelope feedercomprising:

-   -   a support member for supporting one face of a medicine envelope        storing injection excluding a tolerance for bending starting        from an upper end opening part;    -   a vertically movable holding member composed of a pair of nip        arms which are provided in a rotatable manner and have nip        rollers at respective top ends for folding a tolerance for        bending of the medicine envelope by one nip roller as the        holding member is horizontally moved, and for holding the        medicine envelope in a twofold state by lowering the both nip        rollers so as to be positioned on both sides of the support        member, wherein    -   at least a coefficient of friction of the nip rollers is made        larger than that of the support member, so that only the        medicine envelope can be raised while being held between the        both nip rollers when the holding member is raised.

With this constitution, it becomes possible to securely fold the openingpart of the medicine envelope and hold and feed the medicine envelopedespite of the simple constitution.

A rotating angle of the nip arms in the holding member should preferablybe changeable according to conditions of the medicine envelope, whichimplements a smooth operation without opening the opening part when themedicine envelopes are fed and placed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a medicine envelope feederaccording to the present embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a holding member of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a feeding operation from a supportmember by the holding member;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the feeding state in a bucket by theholding member;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the upper part of the supportmember;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing feeding processing;

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a holding member according to anotherembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a holding member according to anotherembodiment ;

FIG. 9 is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing feeding control by the holding member ofFIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a side view showing a holding member according to stillanother embodiment;

FIG. 14A is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 13;

FIG. 14B is a fragmentary side view showing the state of the holdingmember in FIG. 14A;

FIG. 15A is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15B is a fragmentary side view showing the state of the holdingmember in FIG. 15A;

FIG. 16A is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16B is a fragmentary side view showing the state of the holdingmember in FIG. 16A;

FIG. 17A is a front view showing the feeding state of the medicineenvelope by the holding member of FIG. 13; and

FIG. 17B is a fragmentary side view showing the state of the holdingmember in FIG. 17A.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows a medicine envelope feeder according to the firstembodiment. The medicine envelope feeder 1, which is for feedingmedicine envelopes 3 storing injection 2 (see FIG. 3(a)) such asinjection in ampules to a bucket 4 for automatic transportation, ismainly composed of a support member 5 and a holding member 6. As shownin FIG. 3, the medicine envelope 3 is of bag type formed by attaching aresin film 8 on three sides of a paper sheet 7, that are both lateralsides and a lower edge side, and the film 8 contains information on theinjection 2 to be stored (e.g., drug name, quantity, etc.) printedthereon.

The support member 5 is composed of a support plate 9 which is made ofstainless steel or the like with the both lateral sides being folded atright angles, and is provided in a rotatable manner so as to rotateabout a spindle 9 a on the lower end by driving of an unshown rotatingmotor. As shown in FIG. 5, the upper end part of the support plate 9 iscomposed of a rotating piece 11 rotatable about a spindle 11 a. Theheight of the support plate 9 is set at a value allowing a folded partof the medicine envelope 3 to protrude from the upper edge in the stateof supporting the medicine envelope 3. A medicine envelope detectionsensor 12 is provided on the central part of the support plate 9 so thatthe presence or absence of the medicine envelope 3 to be fed can bedetected. Moreover, a detection disk 13 is provided on the spindle 9 a,so that a rotating position of the support plate 9 can be detected bythe detection disk 13 being detected by a rotating position detectionsensor 14. The support member 5 can rotate between a reception position(chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3(a)) of the medicine envelope 3 thatis inclined at a slant angle and a delivery position (solid line in FIG.1 and FIG. 3(a)) rotated in vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the holding member 6 is composed of a guide plate 15and a pressing arm 16 attached to the guide plate 15 in a rotatable andvertically movable manner. The guide plate 15, which is placed on aholding plate 17, is vertically moved along a slide rail extending invertical direction by driving of a Y-axis servomotor 18. Moreover, theholding plate 17 is moved, as shown in FIG. 1, in horizontal directionvia a rod screw 21 by driving of an X-axis servomotor 20. Consequently,the holding member 6 can freely move in Y-axis direction (verticaldirection) and X-axis direction (horizontal direction), i.e., torespective positions including a standby position on the upper rightend, a medicine envelope reception position on the lower left side and amedicine envelope feeding position to the bucket 4 on the light side inFIG. 1. Moreover, guide blocks 24 are laid side by side in verticaldirection on one face of the guide plate 15 at a specified interval.Further, on the lower end part of the guide plate 15, a contact piece 22is provided rotatably about a spindle 22 a. The contact piece 22 has alarge notch on the central part so that only both side parts can comeinto contact with the medicine envelope 3. Moreover, on the central partof the contact piece 22, a check sensor 23 is provided so as to be ableto detect whether or not the medicine envelope 3 is appropriately held.The pressing arm 16 is composed of a rod-like guide part 26 providedrotatably about a spindle 26 a. A guide piece 25 is vertically moved bydriving of an unshown motor while being guided by the guide blocks 24. Apressing part 27 extending in across-the-width direction is provided onthe top end of the guide part 26. The pressing part 27 is structuredsuch that a material having a large coefficient of fraction (at leastlarger than that of the support plate 9) against the medicine envelope 3made of silicon rubber or the like is formed into a cylinder shape, andis provided rotatably about a spindle 27 a. Moreover, the pressing arm16 is biased by an unshown spring or the like in such a manner that thepressing part 27 comes into pressure contact with the side of the guideplate 15.

It is to be noted that the bucket 4 can be conveyed by a conveyer device28 as shown in FIG. 1. Further, the conveyer device 28 itself can movealong a slide rail 29.

Next, the operation of the above-structured medicine envelope feeder 1will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6.

Once a power supply is turned on (step S1), there is executed an initialoperation consisting of designating its home position and then sittingin a specified position (step S2) on standby. More specifically, thesupport member 5 is positioned at a reception position of the medicineenvelope 3 (chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3(a)), the holding member 6is positioned at a home position on the upper right end in FIG. 1, andthe pressing arm 16 of the holding member 6 is positioned in a raisingposition. In this state, the medicine envelope 3 storing the injection 2is fed by an unshown bagging device to the support member 5 that ispositioned at the reception position (step S3).

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the holding member 6 is moved to the medicineenvelope reception position (step S4) while the support member 5 isrotated from the reception position to the delivery position (step S5).Consequently, the medicine envelope 3 held by the support member 5 is,as shown in FIG. 3(a), held between the support plate 9 of the supportmember 5 and the guide plate 15 of the holding member 6. At this point,the lower side of the medicine envelope 3 is guided by the support plate9 excluding a tolerance for bending starting from the upper end openingpart, and the range exceeding the tolerance for bending starting fromthe upper end opening part is guided by the guide plate 15.

After lapse of specified standby time (herein 1 sec.), the pressing arm16 is lowered so that as shown in FIG. 3(b), the tolerance for bendingof the medicine envelope 3 is folded along the support plate 9 by thepressing part 27 (step S6). Once the pressing part 27 moves to alowermost point, the holding member 6 is raised (step S7). The frictionforce exerted to the medicine envelope 3 is sufficiently larger in thepressing part 27 than in the support member 5. Consequently, as shown bythe double-dashed line in FIG. 3(a) or in detail in FIG. 5, as theholding member 6 is raised, the support member 5 gradually slips awayfrom the medicine envelope 3 and the rotating piece 11 rotates about thespindle 11 a. As the rotating piece 11 rotates, a contact area betweenthe rotating piece 11 and the medicine envelope 3 is gradually decreasedand so the friction force is restrained, which makes it possible to dropoff the support member 5 (rotating piece 11) smoothly from the medicineenvelope 3. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3(d), the medicine envelope 3is held between the guide plate 15 and the pressing part 27 in the stateof being folded.

Next, the holding member 6 is moved in horizontal direction so as to bepositioned above the bucket 4 (step S8), and the medicine envelope 3 islowered till its lower end part reaches a discharge position located inthe vicinity of the bottom surface of the bucket 4 as shown in FIG. 4(a)(step S9). Then, as shown in FIG. 4(b), the holding member 6 is loweredwhile being gradually moved in horizontal direction toward the supportmember 5 side (step S10). At this point, the contact piece 22 comes intocontact with the medicine envelope 3. Consequently, the medicineenvelope 3 is gradually inclined with the folded side facing down. Here,the pressing arm 16 is raised and the held state of the medicineenvelope 3 by the pressing part 27 is released (step S11). Since themedicine envelope 3 is inclined as described before, the folded side isretained on the bottom surface of the bucket 4 (or the medicine envelope3 accommodated in advance) as shown in FIG. 4(c), making it difficult toopen the medicine envelope 3.

After that, the medicine envelope 3 is fed to the bucket 4 with theopening part being folded. Whenever the medicine envelope 3 is fedthereto, the movement position of the holding member 6 is graduallychanged in conformity to a preset position information. This enables themedicine envelopes 3 to be smoothly accommodated in sequence in thebucket 4 while the folded side being held without generating unnecessaryspaces.

Although the holding member 6 is structured as shown in FIG. 2 in theaforementioned embodiment, it is also acceptable to form an inclinedface 15 a on a lower end part of the guide plate 15 and allow thepressing part 27 to move to the inclined face 15 a as shown in FIG. 7.This makes it possible to compel the medicine envelope 3 to be inclined,thereby allowing the folded part to securely face down when the medicineenvelope 3 is fed to the bucket 4. Further, without being limited to theconstitution in which the aforementioned both side parts are provided,the contact piece 22 may be composed of a plate-like article 30 providedrotatably about a spindle 30 a. Further, it is also acceptable toprovide a sensor (unshown) for detecting a rotating position of thecontact piece 22 (30). In this constitution, in the case where, forexample, quantity of the injection 2 stored in the medicine envelope 3is large, it becomes possible to detect by the sensor that the rotatingposition of the contact piece 22 (30) is changed from a normal positionand to correct the movement position of the holding member 6.

Further, although the upper part of the medicine envelope 3 is simplyfolded in the aforementioned embodiment, it is also acceptable topartially apply adhesives or the like to the medicine envelope 3, or tothermally deposit the medicine envelope 3 by heating a part of the guideplate 15 so as to maintain the folded state.

Further in the aforementioned embodiment, the medicine envelopes 3 arefed in the bucket 4 starting from the left side. However, if thechemicals bag 3 are accommodated therein starting from the right side,the folded part of the already accommodated medicine envelope 3 can bepressed in sequence by the part of a next medicine envelope 3 in whichthe injection 2 is housed, which further stabilizes the accommodationstate and makes it possible to secure prevention of the injection 2 fromleaking. Moreover, if the medicine envelope 3 is accommodated in thismanner, the folded side will not protrude upward, allowing smoothaccommodation of the medicine envelopes 3 on the second level.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 8 shows a holding member 41 in a medicine envelope feeder accordingto the second embodiment. In this holding member 41, a holding guide 43is provided in a vertically movable manner on a guide plate 42 whichmoves in Y-axis and X-axis direction. A contact piece 44 and an elasticpressing piece 45 are provided on the lower back face of the guide plate42. The contact piece 44 is a plate-like article provided rotatablyabout a spindle 44 a, whose rotating position is detected by a sensor 46like the contact piece shown in FIG. 7. The elastic pressing piece 45,which is formed by providing a resin protrusion 48 on the top end of acoil spring 47, has a length almost half of the contact piece 44 andprotrudes downward from the guide plate 42. The head of the protrusion48 is formed into a semispherical shape so that the medicine envelope 3is not damaged. Moreover, on the lower end of the guide plate 42, thereis formed an inclined face 42 a that is inclined to the back surfaceside toward lower side. A holding guide 43 is vertically moved byrotary-driving a pinion 50 that is engaged with a rack 49 by a motor 51.The holding guide 43 is equipped with an arm holding part 52 and apressing arm 53 which are provided rotatably about a spindle 54. Thepressing arm 53 has an almost cylindrical pressure part 53 a made of asilicon rubber which is rotatably provided on the top end, and is biasedcounterclockwise in the drawing against the arm holding part 52 by abiasing force of a spring 55. Further, the arm holding part 52 and thepressing arm 53 are rotated by driving of a motor 56 via links 57 a, 57b.

It is to be noted that the pressing part 53 a of the pressing arm 53should preferably be formed not only into a cylindrical shape but tohave a circular groove over the entire circumference at specifiedintervals in axis direction. According to this constitution, a pressurecontact force generated when the medicine envelope is held by thepressing part 53 a is concentrated into a part other than the circulargroove, while air in the medicine envelope can be released outside,which achieves a stabilized state.

Next, the operation of the above-structured medicine envelope feederwill be described. Since the operation till the holding member 41receives the medicine envelope from the support member 5 is similar tothat in the aforementioned first embodiment, only the operation of theholding member 41 is herein described based on the flowchart of FIG. 12.

That is, the holding member 41 holding the medicine envelope is raised(step S21) and horizontally moved to the right side (step S22) beforebeing lowered to a position shown in FIG. 9 (step S23). At this point,the holding guide 43 is lowered from the guide plate 42 (step S24), andthe pressing part 53 a is moved to an inclined face 42 a. Then, themotor 56 is driven in normal rotation so as to rotate the arm holdingpart 52 and the pressing arm 53 about a spindle 54 via the links 57 a,57 b (step S25), and at the same time, the holding member 41 ishorizontally moved to the left side while being lowered (step S26). As aconsequence, the pressing part 53 a moves to the back face side beyondthe inclined face 42 a, ensuring the folded state of the medicineenvelope 3. Moreover, the medicine envelope 3 itself is inclined so thatthe folded side is positioned on the bottom surface side as shown inFIG. 10. At this point, the motor 56 is driven in reverse rotation so asto rotate the arm holding part 52 and the pressing arm 53 clockwiseabout the spindle 54 via the links 57 a, 57 b (step S27). Further, theholding member 41 is horizontally moved to the left side while beinglowered (step S28). As a consequence, the medicine envelope 3 is held inbetween the contact piece 44 and the bottom surface of the bucket 4, andthe held state by the pressing arm 53 is released in the state thatdisplacement of the medicine envelope 3 is prevented. Therefore, as theholding member 41 moves, the contact position of the protrusion 48 ofthe elastic pressing piece 45 on the medicine envelope 3 shifts to thefolded position side. As a result, as shown in FIG. 11, the medicineenvelope 3 is positioned sideways while the elastic pressing piece 45securely prevents the folded part from opening. After that, the holdingmember 41 is raised (step S29) to be ready for feeding of a nextmedicine envelope 3. The folded part of the medicine envelope 3 fed intothe bucket 4 in this way is reliably positioned facing down, whichprevents the stored injection 2 from leaking during conveyance of thebucket 4 and the like.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 13 shows a holding member 61 of a medicine envelope feederaccording to the third embodiment. The holding member 61 is providedwith a guide plate 62 that moves in X-axis and Y-axis direction. Theguide plate 62 is composed of a first support plate 63 and a secondsupport plate 64 which are laid side by side at a specified interval.The first support plate 63 is equipped with a motor 65 capable ofdriving in both normal and reverse rotations, and a drive gear 66 isfixed to its rotating shaft. An shaft member 67 is rotatably supportedby the both support plates 63, 64.

A driven gear 68 that engages with the drive gear 66 is integrated withone end part of the shaft member 67. Moreover, a detection disk 70having a detection part 69 made of a magnet disposed on three positionson the circumference is fixed to the other end part of the shaft member67. The second support plate 64 is provided with a sensor 71 fordetecting the detection part 69.

Further, a drive disk 72 is fixed on the central part of the shaftmember 67. A guide shaft 73 is provided on an outer peripheral part ofthe drive disk 72, and a first arm 74 and a second arm 75 are disposedon the both side of the drive disk 72.

The first arm 74 has a long hole 76 on one end side, which is slidablyconnected to the guide shaft 73. A first connecting shaft 77 is providedon the other end part of the first arm 74, and a first nip arm 79 isrotatably connected to the both end parts of the first connecting shaft77 via an one-way clutch 78. With the one-way clutch 78, the first niparm 79 can rotate clockwise in the drawing, and achievescounterclockwise rotation by following the rotation of a later-describedsecond nip arm 82. A first nip roller 80 is rotatably provided on thetop end of the first nip arm 79.

Moreover, one end part of the second arm 75 is rotatably connected tothe guide axis 73, while the other end part is provided with a secondconnecting shaft 81. The both end parts of the second connecting shaft81 are rotatably connected to a middle part of the second nip arm 82. Aspindle 82 a on one end part of the second nip arm 82 is rotatablyconnected to the one end side of the first nip arm 79, and is contactwith the one-way clutch 78. Further, a second nip roller 83, which isrotatably provided on the other end part of the second nip arm 82, comesinto contact with or clears away from the first nip roller 80 in arelative manner so as to hold and release the medicine envelope.

It is to be noted that the first nip roller 80 and the second nip roller83 use elastic materials such as rubber.

Description is now given of the operation of the above-structuredholding member 61.

First, as with the first embodiment, the holding member 61 is moved to amedicine envelope reception position. Once the medicine envelope is fed,the support plate 9 is moved from an inclined reception position to astanding delivery position. At this point, the motor 65 is driven torotate the drive disk 72 counterclockwise so as to position the both niprollers 80 and 83 closer to each other as shown in FIG. 14. Then, theboth nip rollers 80, 83 are horizontally moved, and the upper part ofthe medicine envelope is folded along the support plate 9 before theboth nip rollers 80, 83 are lowered so as to be positioned on the bothsides of the support plate 9. As a result, the upper part of themedicine envelope is two folded. In this state, the holding member 61 israised so that by the rotation of the rotating piece 11, the medicineenvelope is lifted while being held between the both nip rollers 80 and83 as with the first embodiment.

The medicine envelope lifted from the support plate 9 is moved towardthe upper side of the bucket 4 by the horizontal movement of the holdingmember 61. Then, as shown in FIG. 15, after the holding member 61 islowered, the medicine envelope is moved obliquely downward.

When the medicine envelope is moved obliquely downward, the motor 65 isdriven to rotate the drive disk 72 clockwise as shown in FIG. 15(b). Thefirst arm 74 does not rotate since the guide shaft 73 simply slidesalong the long hole 76 and therefore an initial state is maintained. Thesecond arm 75 moves upward with the rotation of the drive disk 72.Consequently, the second nip arm 82 uplifts the second connecting shaft81, and rotates counterclockwise about the spindle 82 a. Moreover, sincethe spindle 82 a is in contact with the one-way clutch 78, the first niparm 79 rotates counterclockwise with the second nip arm 82. Therefore,the held state of the medicine envelope by the first nip roller 80 andthe second nip roller 83 is maintained, and only the first nip arm 79and the second nip arm 82 are inclined. Because of this, when themedicine envelope is placed on the bottom surface of the bucket 4, themedicine envelope can be inclined with the twofold portion beingpositioned on the lower side, making it possible to appropriatelyprevent the medicine envelope from opening.

After that, the motor 65 is driven to further rotate the drive disk 72clockwise. Consequently, as shown in FIG. 16, not only the second arm 75but also the first arm 74 move upward and relative positions of theone-way clutch 78 of the first nip arm 79 and the spindle 82 a of thesecond nip arm 82 are changed, so that eventually the first nip roller80 relatively goes away from the second nip roller 83, resulting inrelease of the medicine envelope as shown in FIG. 17.

Thus, according to the holding member 61, it becomes possible toimplement a natural operation such as holding the medicine envelopemanually and accommodating it in the bucket 4, and to securely preventthe opening part of the medicine envelope from opening and the insideinject from leaking.

1. A medicine envelope feeder, comprising: a support member forsupporting one face of a medicine envelope storing injection excluding atolerance for bending starting from an upper end opening part; avertically movable holding member composed of a guide part for guidingthe other face of the medicine envelope at least in a specified rangeexceeding the tolerance for bending starting from the upper end openingpart, and a pressing part which is vertically movable along the guidepart and is lowered for folding and pressing the medicine envelope alongthe support member, wherein at least a coefficient of friction of thepressing part is made larger than that of the support member, so thatonly the medicine envelope can be raised while being held between theguide part and the pressing part when the holding member is raised. 2.The medicine envelope feeder as defined in claim 1, wherein a part ofthe support member held between the guide part and the pressing part ofthe holding member is composed of a rotating piece rotatable about oneend part.
 3. The medicine envelope feeder as defined in claim 1, whereinthe support member is provided in a rotatable manner about a lower endpart and comprises medicine envelope detection means for detecting thatthe medicine envelope is fed, drive means for rotary-driving the supportmember by the medicine envelope detection means detecting the medicineenvelope, and rotating position detecting means for detecting that thesupport member is rotated in a state the medicine envelope is heldbetween the support member and the guide part of the holding member. 4.The medicine envelope feeder as defined in claim 1, wherein the holdingmember is capable of moving in horizontal direction, and comprises arotatable contact piece which is brought into contact with one surfaceof the medicine envelope as the holding member moves in horizontaldirection when the held medicine envelope is fed to the bucket.
 5. Themedicine envelope feeder as defined in claim 1, wherein the holdingmember comprises an inclined face which is provided on a lower endportion of the guide part and is gradually inclined from the pressingpart toward a lower side, so that by moving the pressing part along theinclined face of the guide part, the held medicine envelope can beinclined with a folded side facing down.
 6. The medicine envelope feederas defined in claim 4, wherein the holding member further comprises anelastic pressing piece for pressing an upper folded side of the medicineenvelope after retaining the medicine envelope on a bottom surface ofthe bucket by the contact piece.
 7. A medicine envelope feeder,comprising: a support member for supporting one face of a medicineenvelope storing injection excluding a tolerance for bending startingfrom an upper end opening part; a vertically movable holding membercomposed of a pair of nip arms which are provided in a rotatable mannerand have nip rollers at respective top ends for folding a tolerance forbending of the medicine envelope by one nip roller as the holding memberis horizontally moved, and for holding the medicine envelope in atwofold state by lowering the both nip rollers so as to be positioned onboth sides of the support member, wherein at least a coefficient offriction of the nip rollers is made larger than that of the supportmember, so that only the medicine envelope can be raised while beingheld between the both nip rollers when the holding member is raised. 8.The medicine envelope feeder as defined in claim 7, wherein a rotatingangle of the nip arms in the holding member can be changed according toconditions of the medicine envelope.
 9. The medicine envelope feeder asdefined in claim 2, wherein the support member is provided in arotatable manner about a lower end part and comprises medicine envelopedetection means for detecting that the medicine envelope is fed, drivemeans for rotary-driving the support member by the medicine envelopedetection means detecting the medicine envelope, and rotating positiondetecting means for detecting that the support member is rotated in astate the medicine envelope is held between the support member and theguide part of the holding member.
 10. The medicine envelope feeder asdefined in claim 2, wherein the holding member is capable of moving inhorizontal direction, and comprises a rotatable contact piece which isbrought into contact with one surface of the medicine envelope as theholding member moves in horizontal direction when the held medicineenvelope is fed to the bucket.
 11. The medicine envelope feeder asdefined in claim 3, wherein the holding member is capable of moving inhorizontal direction, and comprises a rotatable contact piece which isbrought into contact with one surface of the medicine envelope as theholding member moves in horizontal direction when the held medicineenvelope is fed to the bucket.
 12. The medicine envelope feeder asdefined in claim 2, wherein the holding member comprises an inclinedface which is provided on a lower end portion of the guide part and isgradually inclined from the pressing part toward a lower side, so thatby moving the pressing part along the inclined face of the guide part,the held medicine envelope can be inclined with a folded side facingdown.
 13. The medicine envelope feeder as defined in claim 3, whereinthe holding member comprises an inclined face which is provided on alower end portion of the guide part and is gradually inclined from thepressing part toward a lower side, so that by moving the pressing partalong the inclined face of the guide part, the held medicine envelopecan be inclined with a folded side facing down.
 14. The medicineenvelope feeder as defined in claim 4, wherein the holding membercomprises an inclined face which is provided on a lower end portion ofthe guide part and is gradually inclined from the pressing part toward alower side, so that by moving the pressing part along the inclined faceof the guide part, the held medicine envelope can be inclined with afolded side facing down.